How Ziva Returns
by babyskyblues
Summary: Perhaps I can continue and make a short collection of possible ways Ziva can return, given the two episodes we have. If you have an idea of how she returns, send it to me and I can attempt writing it!


**A/N: I just wrote this to somehow tie what I thought was an unsatisfying and out of character episode (11.02) back into the series and bring Ziva back. **

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned the show, then that episode wouldn't have happened. **

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When Tony boarded that plane, contrary to popular belief, he was not letting go of his soulmate forever. He boarded that plane with a smile, satisfied that she loves him back, and with enough trust in her to come back to him when she's ready. Actually, he doesn't have that much trust; he just knows that he'll always find a way to find her, no matter what it takes.

The first few days were tough without her sitting across from him. Although they kept in contact through text messages and emails, he didn't act or feel the same. He missed her, plain and simple, and lost his touch on the movie references and jokes because he didn't care to entertain McGee or the new agent; his desired audience would always be Ziva.

A week and a half after he left her on the tarmac, separation anxiety really began to kick in. He knew she needed time to figure herself out, no matter how much he wanted to help her see how she was perfectly fine the way she was. He missed the movie and pizza nights, the looks across the bullpen, and overall just having a partner by his side who he would easily (and has easily) handed his life over to. The team saw his pain, but they were as hopeless as he was; she was in Israel, trying to rebuild herself, and they didn't want to stop her.

A few weeks later, Tony began to get frustrated. At first, Tony had accepted her decision, but as the emails became shorter and showed lack of improvement, he grew angry. _Why does she believe she's a bad person? How does she not see it was only part of the job? Does she realize she has her family waiting for her right here? _He grew angry because he couldn't understand how she was questioning herself; he knew she was a loyal, maternal, caring, genuine human being, but she grew blinder and blinder to that fact. He was having a hard time living without her and his patience was running out. She slowly stopped replying to his emails and texts, and was losing contact with him altogether. This frustrated him to no end, because to him, she didn't realize that her decision was affecting him at all.

Two months had past and Tony began to grow anxious. _Was Ziva okay? Is she growing depressed? Is she starting to hate herself too much? _Abby tried to console him and McGee was reassuring, but all their soothing was to no avail; Tony was heartbroken. He wanted his soulmate back, but he wanted to give her space. His selfishness was winning. Vance, however, prevented him from leaving for any longer because he had taken already so much time off from work looking for her, and so he was stuck in the US for some time. His drinking began, and he slowly faded into a shell of his former self.

Seven months had passed and Tony had faded too out of character for McGee, who decided to take him, with Abby, out clubbing. He needed someone else, because Ziva was in contact with no one, and the rest of the team decided she wouldn't come back. If she hasn't already, why would she later? They knew Tony was worried about her, they all were, but they couldn't let him drown himself in liquid alcohol happiness.

A year and three months had passed, and Tony had created a new routine for himself. Come home from work, drink, pass out, get up, take pain killers for the hangover, go to work, and repeat. He had slept with a new girl every month, but they were meaningless. They slept with him to get away from their harsh lives of risky men and unemployed angst, and he slept with them for sex. He listened to their problems over a few drinks because he was crushed over not being able to fix his own. McGee and Abby grew even more worried about him; Ducky became his therapist although Tony considered himself "fine." Tony began to even drink in NCIS headquarters, passing out either in autopsy or Abby's lab. One of those events led to a frantic and drunken email, long and detailed, explaining to Ziva how she needed to come back to him and how her decision to find herself was stupid. _Ziva, you aren't a murderer, you aren't heartless, you are none of those things. I am tired and tired of waiting, you've got to come home. _Tony wrote and wrote his feelings in a drunken haze, and pressed send right before he passed out on top of his computer. Little did he know that she was checking her morning emails as it sent, and spent the entire day crying, realizing how broken she had left him, and how broken she had made herself.

One night, he came back home, so burnt out and focused on his routine that he just grabbed the bottle of whiskey from the counter and made his way to his couch before even glancing up to see his apartment slightly cleaned up and someone sitting in his usual area in front of the TV. She looked at him and gave him a small smile, blood rushing to her cheeks as he couldn't even formulate any words. He was stunned and almost dropped the bottle of whiskey on the floor.

"Ziva?" He said, still questioning if this was his imagination _maybe those few drinks I did with McGee an hour ago really do have an effect on me _or if she was really there.

Ziva got up from the couch and stood right in front of him, cupping his face in her hands. He nuzzled his face into her, realizing in fact that she was not some fragment of his imagination, but in flesh and blood and _oh the smell of her that I thought I'd never get to smell again. _

"You came back." He finally said as he tossed his bottle of whiskey onto the couch and enveloped her in his arms.

Their lips slowly met, and they stayed like that for a while, taking in each other. They finally parted and she looked at him with glassy eyes, "Couldn't live without you, I guess."


End file.
